Monroe Jury Convicts N.c. Man For Having Marijuana In Suitcase

July 16, 1986|by WEALTHY J. KORTZ, The Morning Call

A 28-year-old Jamaican-born North Carolina resident was found guilty of possession and possession with intent to deliver marijuana and exceeding speed limits yesterday following a short jury trial in Monroe County Court.

Jurors returned their verdict against Rohan Maxul Thompson after deliberating a little more than one hour. The panel returned to the courtroom with a question involving the identification of an object in a suitcase belonging to the defendant. Judge Ronald E. Vican told the jurors that their question was not relevant to the trial and declined to identify the object.

The panel returned its verdict almost immediately after returning to the jury room.

Defense attorney Robert Rosenblum advised the court that his client waived the court instruction about post-trial rights of appeal and requested immediate sentencing. Rosenblum told the court that Thompson has been incarcerated in Monroe County Jail unable to post bail since his March 5 arrest.

Monroe County Assistant District Attorney Jane Roach argued against immediate sentencing and called for a pre-sentence investigation to make sure the defendant had no prior arrests in Jamaica, Florida, North Carolina or New York. She also asked Vican to explain appeal rights to the defendant despite the fact that defense counsel asked that they be waived.

Vican complied with both of Roach's requests.

During the trial, Trooper Ronald Schovitz of state police at Swiftwater testified that he had stopped a rental car being driven by Thompson after his radar instrument clocked the vehicle traveling at 56 mph in a 45 mph construction zone along Interstate 80 in Pocono Township.

Schovitz said he became suspicious when he found the vehicle had a Florida registration tag and a rental agreement had been issued to Marcie Ferris of Miami, Fla. He said Thompson's name had been inked in on the carbon copy agreement as an additional driver.

Thompson, he said, told him that he was going to New York City to visit his mother. Schovitz said he discovered 17 pounds of marijuana in one of two suitcases in the trunk of the vehicle after he had asked Thompson to provide identification and show the luggage.

Schovitz said Thompson opened the smaller of two nylon-type suitcases in the trunk, saying it belonged to him. He said the defendant told him that the larger bag containing the marijuana did not belong to him.

Under cross-examination, Schovitz said that Thompson told him the car had been rented to Marcie Ferris and that she had given him the right to drive it. He also said that Thompson told him he had instructions to drop the car off "at a certain place" when he got into New York.

George Surma, a criminalist in the state police crime laboratory in Wyoming, was called to testify but was withdrawn as a witness after counsel stipulated that Surma would testify that the substance in the suitcase was marijuana.

Thompson, testifying in his own behalf, denied knowledge of the marijuana. He said Ferris had come to North Carolina, and he rode back to Florida with her. He said Ferris let him use to the vehicle to go to New York and had instructed him to "leave the car at Leo's house in New York."

Thompson said he saw the larger bag in the trunk but didn't know anything about it and hadn't asked questions about it.

Under cross-examination, Thompson said he was from Jamaica and had been in this country for two years working on temporary employment on a steady basis. He admitted that he was unemployed when he was stopped by police.